Bacon Apple Jam is an epiphany of taste

This is a certifiable OMG - “Oh. My. Gawd.” moment.

I knew that everything is better with bacon, including the Mo’s bacon chocolate bars from Vosages. But this is so…. so…. more.

The other night I told my step-daughter (she calls and chats while on her way through the Bay Area commute traffic … handsfree, of course) that I wanted to make something like this. Ronda said that the foodies where she works had tried something similar, from an online source, and were positively swooning over it.

I knew which one, and thought - if they can do it, so can it. Cheaper. Better.

She gave me her blessing, saying that it was a truly noble cause. Everything being better with bacon, of course.

Since discovering the Pomona Pectin, I’ve been able to open up my jam making creativity exponentially. You simply don’t need to follow all that fussy recipe stuff as with the regular jam making process using the Certo pectin, and you can ditch over half the sugar.

This was going to be the real test of the Pomona Pectin.

The results were so outstanding that I immediately made a second batch that was even better than the first. It’s rather like a chutney, but it’s … it’s got freakin’ bacon in it.

(swoon.)

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Butternut squash, apple and curry bisque

Have you been tempted to buy one of large containers of cut up butternut squash at Costco? I did and here’s a great way to use it that everybody in the family will like.

You can easily adapt this to what you have handy, substituting any favorite fall squash, apples, pears or even canned squash or pumpkin.

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1-1/2 cups finely chopped white onion

1 cup chopped carrots

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Boiled apple cider: Hard to find but worth it

I finally found a good source of boiled apple cider, Wood’s Cider Mill Products in Springfield, Vermont. They appear to be the same supplier used when you buy the pint bottle of boiled cider from King Arthur Flour, also of Vermont. Kinda makes sense.

As I said, boiled cider can be hard to find, particularly out in the West, but the flavor is worthy of the search and the shipping price.

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Braised sunchokes with apple, leek and onion

Just the other night in Ft. Meyers, Florida, I had some braised sunchokes with my arctic char at a local restuarant. It had been a very long time since I’d tried them. They were an interesting alternative to potatoes, although that night a bit on the too greasy side.

I thought, “Self… you can do this better.”

Too true.

Our friend, Charlie, another one of those wandering pilot friends from Alaska had stopped in on his way to the warmer weather for the winter, and I was whomping up some grilled orange roughy marinated in a nice little African sauce, asparagus spears and then a braised melange of sunchokes, apples, leeks and onions. Instead of bread, I offered slices of grilled Afghan ‘bolani’ with the signature jalapeno sauce.

Charlie the wandering LaRaux (rhymes with….)

The sunchokes -often referred to as Jerusalem Artichokes (Helianthus tuberosus)- are not an artichoke and not from Jerusalem. Instead they are the little bulbous root or tuber (rather like tiny ginger root in appearance) of a type of sunflower and are native to America.

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